


Of Demons and Pretty Boys

by 1000_Spiders_in_a_Trenchcoat, JenLaFayette



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-27 09:53:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17159831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000_Spiders_in_a_Trenchcoat/pseuds/1000_Spiders_in_a_Trenchcoat, https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenLaFayette/pseuds/JenLaFayette
Summary: A collection of short stories of my OC Belia Talbot and Spiders OC Alex.Just their story.Also featured, Sebastion who belongs to goodboysatan on tumblr





	1. In the beginning, there was chaos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter written by 1000_Spiders_in_a_Trenchcoat

“I’m going to kill them.” Charon’s threatening glare was somewhat ruined by the sharpied on moustache and glasses, and the copious amount of pink glitter covering every inch of his body.

 

“I think they’re doing a pretty good job of that by themselves” Sebastian looked over at the two idiots currently playing “Piggy-in-the-Middle” with a grenade and an angry Deathclaw.

 

“Ugh” Charon facepalmed as his brain finally managed to catch up with the implications of these two meeting. It was as though fate had conspired to bring together the two most destructive forces on the continent in an attempt to finish what the war had started. The two had come to blows on sight and the situation had quickly escalated when Alex brought out a fat man and Belia responded with some kind of gas bomb. Thankfully, the impending second apocalypse had been delayed by their combined 2 minute attention span. Now, far away from any warhead silos or chemical weapon facilities, the duo had settled for increasingly dangerous, booze fuelled dumbassery.

 

“Someone’s going to have to stop them before we have to scrape them up off the tarmac.” Sebastian’s tone had made it clear that he was not going to be that someone.

 

“I would but I already stepped in for the Ultimate Wrestling.” Charon wasn’t sure what surprised him the most about that one. The fact that Alex and Belia had managed to make a wrestling ring in the hour they were left unattended, or the fact that the raiders had gone along with it.

 

“ _Gary.”_ Gary said icily, he’d already been hit in the head with a steel chair today. He didn’t want to do anything else that would add to his rapidly growing concussion count.

 

“I vote Gary.” Sebastian had seen the little guy fight. He’d be fine. Probably. Hopefully.

 

“Seconded. Two out of three, democracy wins. Get in there and referee.” Charon was pretty sure this would be ok. This mornings attempt at mediation hadn’t worked out well for Gary, but he was 99% sure a Deathclaw wasn’t going to piledrive him.

 

 _“Ugghhhh, Garryyy!”_ Gary whinged but walked off anyway.

 

“Do you think he’s actually going to be alright against all of them?” Sebastian was mildly concerned. Belia was never happy to be interrupted, that combined with the lengths she’d go to to sate her bloodlust was often a recipe for disaster for anyone hapless enough to get in her way.

 

“What? Of course not. I’m just gonna let him distract them while I tranq them” Charon pulled out what looked like a dart gun with “Forget-Me-Shot” painted on the barrel. “I like to try and save these for important matters, but I think they’re a little necessary right now. I need a break.”

 

Sebastian looked on in surprise at whatever was in the darts took down Belia instantly.

 

“Might have been too much for the Deathclaw but with Alex and Belia’s drug tolerance I wasn’t going to mess around.” Charon started walking off to collect their idiots. “Come on, if we get the back to the hotel quickly we should be able to get a couple of hours sleep in before they come round.”

 

 

A few Hours had passed and Belia was not happy to wake up on the floor back in her hotel room. The sharpied on monobrow only added insult to injury. She had to admit though that the cock on Alex’s forehead was hilarious. Her angry shouting at Sebastian had simply been met with a sleepy “5 more minutes”

 

“Ok, who do I kill for this.” Belia’s tone was as unimpressed.

 

“Not it.” Sebastian replied not looking up.

 

“Not it.” Charon was apparently awake too.

 

“Gary.” Alex had told Belia and Sebastian that Gary refused to use English around them because he didn’t trust strangers. Belia had immediately decided that he was adorable and had taken to treating him like a lost child, Something Gary barely put up with from Alex and Charon. His slightly stabby protest had been met with laughter and pinched cheeks from Belia.

 

“Nope, we said it first. Democracy wins yet again. It was nice knowing you buddy.” Charon showing love for his companions as always.

 

“No-one’s killing Gary.” Alex pulled the clone towards him defensively. “I’m not sure I can find another one, let alone train him up again.” Belia and Sebastian shared a confused look at that last bit. Belia’s eyes suddenly lit up as she realised what Alex had said.

 

“Wait, _You can get more of these?!_ ” Belia said excitedly. “How?!”

 

“Um, I hope you can. We think he was part of some vault immortality/organ harvesting operation? Honestly, we’re not sure if the Enclave wiped them all out when they took him, but he was number 42.” Alex raised Gary’s hand to show off the “42” tattooed onto the back of it. “If you find any let us know, he misses his brothers.”

 

“That’s so sad.” Belia had pulled Gary into a hug and patted him on the head. Gary was seriously questioning the sanity of everyone in the wasteland. He quickly untangled himself from her grasp and moved back to Alex for protection from the madwoman. Alex responded by pulling him into a hug and patting him on the head. Gary gave up on regaining dignity and settled for staying with the devil he knew.

 

“Sebastian can we get one?” Belia put on a pleading tone with puppy dog eyes to match.

 

“Belia, no. He’s not a dog.”

 

“But what if there’s more out there? Lost and alone? We could find them and help them.” Belia still had the puppy dog eyes but after 300 years Sebastian liked to think he was immune to that.

 

“By “help them” do you mean actually care for them or use them as an immortal clone army?” Sebastian asked sceptically.

 

“Bit of both.” Belia shrugged. Who wouldn’t want an army of cute little clones?

 

“Definitely no.”

 

“Stop spoiling the fun. You already nixed our last two ideas.” Belia rolled her eyes. Alex nodded in solidarity. They’d both thought Ultimate Wrestling was a great addition to the wasteland. Unfortunately Charon and Sebastian, the good time ruiners, had stopped it before they could get to the 1v1 supermutant round. The frag grenade catch wasn’t supposed to have had a Deathclaw in the middle but they were both pretty happy to roll with it.

 

“Come on now guys, you can’t deny a gorgeous girl like this some excitement.” Alex’s voice had dropped an octave. He walked over to her with a slight swagger before leaning into her and saying in a low, seductive voice “Why don’t you come with me and you can take a ride on my fat man”

 

Now _that_ was something Belia was interested in. Alex may have had the brains of a squirrel on a sugar rush, but he had the body of a Greek god. “I think I could be persuaded” she winked back at him before taking his arm as he led her out of the room.

 

“Well that’s one way to keep them busy. At least now we don’t need to worry for a while.” Sebastian didn’t sound happy but at least he could relax again.

 

“No. No. We should worry. He means that literally.” Charon was rubbing his temples. “Come on. We need to follow them before I end up having to negotiate with a Brotherhood army. _Again._ ”

 

Sebastian’s confusion about how the hell that bad pick up line could be literal was quickly cleared up when they trailed the duo to a clearing by an old foundry. Belia was getting a piggyback ride off Alex, who was running towards the building carrying an actual fat man.

 

“Sooo when he said he was going to ride it, he couldn’t possibly mean…” Sebastian started incredulously, before being interrupted by an earth-shaking blast. Avoiding being blinded by the initial light, he opened his eyes to see the pair flying up into the air. Sebastian had seen many things in his abnormally long lifetime. Bomb-powered propulsion was a new one. His jaw dropped as he watched them land on the roof of the building with pinpoint precision.

 

“I’ll give him a 7/10. I’ve seen him get higher than that, but the landing was pretty smooth.” Charon deadpanned. Gary held up six fingers, then made a running motion with his fingers and shook his head.

 

“Yeah, guess the take-off was a little shaky. What do you think Sebastian?”

 

Before Sebastian could respond with some variation on “What the fuck?” And large boom rand through the air. He looked up to see an airborn Belia flying straight towards him. Sebastian didn’t have time to move out of the way before she collided with him, both of them landing in a tangled heap on the ground.

 

“ **NO FAIR! YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO USE YOUR POWERS TO AIM, THAT TAKES THE FUN OUT OF IT!** ” Alex shouted across to them as he started to climb down the building.

 

 **“YOU WEREN’T COMPLAINING WHEN I USED THEM IN MOLOTOV BASEBALL!** ” Belia shouted back.

 

Wait, maltov baseball? Sebastian and Charon had missed that one. They both looked at Gary who nonchalantly “Mmm-hhmed”. He’d actually thought that one was actually pretty fun. Alex had brained himself when a bottle had ricocheted off the wall without shattering and made a beeline straight for his head. Alex had ran over pretty quickly and was currently dragging Gary off to help give Belia a better demonstration. Sebastian wondered where the hell he’d managed to get a second fat man from.

 

Sebastian cared about Belia. He truly did. They’d been through so much together. She was genuinely his best friend out here in the wasteland. He was trying so hard to keep her safe from major harm out here. But if she was going to ignore his advice in the process of making a complete idiot of herself, then he was going to get a front row seat to that schadenfreude filled shit-show. With a resigned sigh he sat down as he watched her faceplant into the ground in a failed attempt to master the perfect landing. Charon sat down next to him, pulling out a hip flask from nowhere and passing it to him in a goodwill gesture.

 

“I get the feeling we’re gonna be stuck together for a while now.” Charon said as he lit up a cigarette.

 

“Could be worse, at least you’ve got good taste in whiskey.” Sebastian replied after taking a swig. He had a good feeling about the ghoul. Lighting a cigarette of his own, he settled down to watch the chaos, content in the knowledge that Belia was happy and that he had someone new to complain to. Someone who actually agreed with him for a change.

 


	2. A Nice Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belia goes off on a short journey of self discovery as she finds out what living means in the Wasteland. She mostly finds chaos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an incredibly belated secret santa gift to the wonderful JenLaFayette. Who so kindly didn't kill me for posting this so late after my life and laptop imploded. Thank you so much for bearing with me and letting me use your incredible oc, Belia, who so much fun to write!

The sun was high in the sky, not that it could be seen through the thick, dirty-yellow clouds that choked out the sky. The scant amount of light that filtered through was tinted a sickly green. Turbulent winds whipped and wailed through the forest, shaking the gnarled branches that stuck out from dead trees, as if they were reaching to grasp at any passerby. A torrential downpour had flooded the stream, irradiated water flowed over the banks and churned the grass and soil into a dangerous mudflow.

  
There was a path that had been worn into the ground. Soil compacted by years of walking, many people had passed through here. In clear weather, this was a beautiful place. Settlers from nearby would come to gather food or wood, in the past people would take strolls here to clear their heads, today though, as a brutal radstorm raviged the (already kind of raviged) landscape, only one person was brave enough to walk this path. That person was a young woman with very long black hair and very short shorts who had apparently missed the both the "radiation" and "storm" parts of "radstorm".  
  
"SON OF A BITCH!" Belia shouted as a branch flew into her face. Unbalenced by the unexpected attack, she lost her footing and slipped down the muddy track, landing arse first on the ground.  
" _SERIOUSLY_??" She asked no-one in particular.  
It was bad enough that she was walking through this stupid forest alone but did naure have to make it worse? She wasn't sure which was worse, the fridgid rain or the radiation. Actually scratch that, the rain was worse. You can't feel radiation but you can sure as hell feel rain soaking through your boots. Did nature have any idea how hard it was to find good quality boots in her size? She'd have to wait for them to dry out before she could wear them again. Or she could kill some raiders that wore the same shoe size as her but they usually didn't answer her whenever she asked what size they wore and she didn't want to waste time.  
... Then again she did need a new jacket.  
  
Making a mental note to get some more ammo to go on a "shopping" trip, she continued trudging along the path looking for shelter. Occasionally alternating between skidding down the slick mud and paradoxically getting stuck in it as she internally cursed Sebastian for leaving her alone. Although if he was here he'd probably just laugh or make some smart-ass comment instead of helping. She understood that sometimes he needed some time alone, after 75 years together she understood almost everything about him, but she also understood that he'd picked a damn inconvenient time to disappear off on his one man mope fest. Belia's own sulking was interrupted by the sight of a shack in a nearby clearing, her mood instantly brightened at the prospect of having somewhere warm and dry to wait out the rest of the radstorm. Unfortunately nature, a known asshole, decided to pick that moment to have the storm start lightening up.

  
"Are you kidding me?!? I've spent 5 goddamn hours walking thtough this storm and you're going to stop the literal bastard second I find shelter??  _Fuck you, clouds. Fuck you, sky. **And fuck you shack you worthless sack of jun** k_" Belia punctuated the last part with a sharp kick against the door. The door flew across the room, taking her stuck foot (and by extension her) with it. Hitting the opposite wall with a thunk, she flopped to the ground in a painful looking heap.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL?!?" A gruff voice screamed. A group of raiders had scrambled around her with weapons drawn, the apperent leader had stepped forwards and was pointing a rusty revolver at her head. Shakey hands and frantic eyes with pinpoint pupils usually meant one thing.  
"Hey, you guys got any jet?" Belia decided to try her luck, she hadn't had a hit since she'd left Sebastian.  
" _DON'T MOVE"_  The leader fired a shot that narrowly missed her head.  
You know what, these guys were assholes. Belia was having a bad day and she wasn't about to let them make it worse. She was soaked through, irradiated, irritated, and worst of all, sober. These idiots looked like the perfect stress relief, and as luck would have it, the one on the front right was wearing leather boots.

"Hey, you over there with the black boots. What are you, a size 5?" She asked innocently.

"Uhh, yeah?" The raider replied, clearly confused at her nonchalance.

"Perfect." She replied with a wicked grin. This was gonna be fun.

  
2 hours later and Belia was feeling great. Violence, drugs, and new shoes did wonders for a womans mood... Or maybe that was just her... Checking her map she figured that she was only a few hours walk from her destination. If Sebastian was going to mope around then she was going to find someone to have fun with. Stepping out into the sun she took a deep breath and continued on her journey.  
  
The rest of the walk was pretty uneventful, a feral here and there, the occasional junkie (sadly none with a good jacket). By nightfall she found herself entering Goodneighbor. Alex usually liked hanging around here, the rent was cheap and it was close enough to the local brotherhood base that he could pop in when needed. She decided to head for the third rail, rumour had it that he was helping the mayor clean up the town nowdays. Apparently this was their usual meeting point.

  
Entering was like stepping into a different world. Gone was the setting sun, and gentle breeze of the outdoors. The clear, crisp air was replaced with the warm, familiar smell of whiskey and tobacco. Dim lights filtered through the haze. whisps of smoke curled like tendrels from the patrons mouths as they chattered away. The conversations mixing together and melding into the background, it was a welcome break after over a week of walking alone through the almost silent wasteland. Scanning the room, she found herself getting annoyed when she couldn't find Alex. He was a tall, blond who should have been here with a ghouls dressed like a founding father. They should not have been hard to miss.

  
"Hey Charlie, have you seen Alex anywhere?" She figured if anyone knew where they were, it would be Hancocks oft put-upon bartender.  
  
"Evenin' Miss Belia. If I point you in 'is direction, will you promise not to give me another mess to clean up? God knows they don't pay me to clean this place." Ok, great. Charlie hadn't forgotten her.  
  
"Ok,  _first_  of all that wasn't my fault. Hancock was the one who brought the cats here, I just taught him the lazer pointer trick." Belia said defensively.  
  
"Mmhm, and the yarn gun?" Charlie didnt eben look up from his glass, but he'd taken a chiding tone.  
  
"I'm blaming Alex." she said a little too quickly.  
  
"I'll make sure to tell him."  _dammit_. "He's just south of Galleria with Mayor Hancock. Something about some new entertainment."  
  
"Great, I'll go there then. See you soon!" With a quick wave she turned and started walking once more  
  
"Next time you come back, try to buy something luv." Charlie was as kind as ever.

 

  
  
After a peaceful walk she found Alex. Well what she actually found a large group of people surrounding him. Alex, was for some reason shirtless and wrestling a radstag wearing a chestplate. That is the radstag was wearing the chestplate, why was the radstag wearing a chestplate??  
  
" _Aaaand_  our reigning champion has gone for a brutal attack on the Pretty Boy but he's not going down without a fight. Look at that, uppercut, The King didnt know what hit him!" Hancock was acting as the announcer apparently.

"Look at that finesse, Pretty Boy has gone for a headlock and The king is down for the count. 5... 4... 3... AND HE SHOOK HIM OFF. LOOK AT HIM GO! Betchya didn't know people could fly in the capital huh?" The Radstag had flung Alex out of the circle and over the crowd. Alex landed with a grunt.

" _Well guys you know the rules..._ " Hancock started

" **OUT OF THE RING, OUT OF THE MATCH!** " The crowd shouted back.

"Looks like the king is undefeated." The Radstag preened as the crowd cheered.  
  
"Eh, I'll get him next time. Fourth time's the charm" Alex's voice appeared next to her, how the hell did he get over so fast? No-one his size should be that sneaky.

" _Fucking fucker_ " Belia jumped and slapped him lightly on the arm for scaring her. "I'm putting a bell on you"  
"Funnily enough Charon said the same thing" Alex was grinning as he pulled her into a hug

"Yeah well, great minds and all that" Belia didn't so much return the hug as hang on for dear life, he was far too tall.

"Speaking of, where is your babysitter? Thought you were glued to each other"

"You know I'm an adult, right? We have lives outside of each other? I can travel alone" Alex was slightly insulted by the (correct) implication that he needed a chaperone. Belia just raised an eyebrow, Alex's shoulders slumped slightly in defeat.

"They should be over there with Hancock...  _Wait_.  _Are they collecting caps? Did they bet against me??_ I'm going to kill them" That was just rude.

"Hold on, see if they'll split the winnings first." Belia was full of good life tips.  
  
"Not much to split from me I'm afraid." Jesus, how did everyone keep moving so fast?? Had the jet worn off without her realising? Charon continued like he hadn't noticed her practically jump out of her skin."

Odds weren't good boss."

"Gaaary." Gary said in a sing song voice, sporting a huge grin as he held up a much bigger bag of caps.

"Then how did he get so much?" Alex eyed the clone suspiciously.

"Oh, well see, you losing was pretty much guaranteed. So he just bet on how you'd lose this time. Apparently 'flung out of the ring while attempting a choke hold' wasn't exactly expected." Charon said flippently, he'd put money on 'knocked out attempting a headbutt'.

"Wow. great. Use that to buy your own scrap parts then ya traitor." Alex deadpanned. He still pulled the little guy over to him though. Alex was tired and, as frustrating as Gary was, he was an excellent armrest.

"Urghhhh, gaaryyy." Gary whined as Alex almost completely unbalanced him by forcing the clone to take his weight.

"Nooooooo, this is clone abuse!" Belia had a soft spot for Gary. Whay could she say, she was a sucker for a sob story. The fact that the object of the sob story was a homicidal clone who was perfectly capable of defending himself didn't matter. She reached out to pull Gary away from Alex, Gary leaned further into Alex to prevent the madwoman from getting hold of him. The number of people he trusted was a very short list, and the crazy person who had hit him with a steel chair was not on that list.  
  
"He'll warm up to you eventually if you keep bugging him, that's what I did." Alex shifted so both his arms were resting on Gary's shoulders and his chin was on his head. Gary did not look happy about this.

"Yes boss, I'm sure annoying someone into friendship will have absolutely no consequences whatsoever." Charon rolled his eyes, he could see that the clone was uncomfortable after being forced into a crowd. Belia arriving wasn't going to help his mood and honestly Charon wasn't looking forward to the chaos that usually followed her. He had his own chaotic idiot to manage.

"So where's Sebastian gone? I've got some good whiskey here with his name on it." Charon tried to inquire about her handlers whereabouts, he hadn't see him in the crowd anywhere.

"He's gone off sulking about something or another, I figured I'd come and hang out with people who knew how to have fun instead if old Moody Mc'Buzzkill." Her tone was almost bitter.

Charon wasn't happy about that, she was alone, upset, and based on her sudden change in demeanor, had parted with the only person capable of reigning her in on bad terms. Crap.  
  
" _Gasp_!" Alex said aloud. " _Tragic_ , to be abandoned by your oldest companion." He continued melodramatically.

"We can fix this, I've got a clear schedule, mentats and some 'mystery moonshine' that might just be paint stripper." He grinned.

"Throw in some maltovs and you've got yourself a deal." Belia high fived him when he nodded. Charon groaned internally. He'd learned the hard way that he didn't have a chance in hell of talking them out of whatever poor life choice they were heading towards. He did however have a choice right between following them and trying to mitigate some of the damage they could cause or staying behind and keeping his sanity while hoping they tired themselves out before they triggered the second great war or something. Glancing at Gary made the choice pretty clear. The clone almost never had a full nights sleep after his second run in with the enclave, but last night had been particularly bad, throw in being on tentahooks all day after being surrounded by so many people and a convenient person to snap at appearing, and you pretty much had a powder keg. Charon decided he'd take a long overdue evening off and drag Gary home for some much needed rest before he started taking his fustration out on someone who would give it back twice over.  
  
"Tell you what, why don't you kids have a catch up far away from any populated areas while Gary and I get back to the hotel." Charon said, delicately untangling his boss from the shorter man.

"Ooooh, what are you planning on doing?" Alex joked with a wink.

"Might actually finish that book I've been pretending to read for a while. Wouldn't mind the chance to have a walk home that doesn't involve dragging you out of a river or deathclaw nest in a half-baked attempt to find a shortcut." Charon resisted the urge to roll his eyes again.  
  
"Hey, those were all much shorter routes than if we took the roads"  
  
Charon rubbed his temples. "Boss for the last time, we spent five hours taking out those deathclaws. It's not a shortcut  _if it takes longer than the original route."_  
  
"Sounds like more fun though." Belia offered helpfully  
  
"Dying isn't fun. I'll take poker any day." Charon started walking off and motioned for Gary to follow.

"We'll be back at Goodneighbor if you need us. Please try not to need us." The duo waved goodbye before setting off home.  
  
"Welp, looks like we're on our own. What would you like to do first." Alex said as he turned to face Belia.  
Before she could reply a frantic looking man ran up to Alex.

"Thank the maker you're still here. Please, you have to help me." The man was in a sorry state, he was bruised and bleeding and his clothes were torn. Worry and fear marred his tear stained face. He was gripping Alex's shirt, whether to make him stay or to keep himself standing, Belia wasn't sure.

" _Please, please_. They've taken my family. They want me to pay them but I have no money.  _Oh god they're going to kill them_." The man spoke in a hurry, as though there was no time to get the words out.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Breath. Whats going on? Who's 'they'?" Alex's demeanor instantly changed as he switched to his 'calm' voice. His soft, soothing voice and intense eyes but stoic experssion seemed to give an air of caring professionalism. When he put on that act Belia could understand why people trusted him with their problems.  
  
Inbetween sobs the man managed to get the story out. His name was Francis. He was a farmer. His wife and daughter were taken by raiders. The raiders were complete idiots who not only thought a wheat farmer would be rich enough to pay a ransom, but had also given their actual hideout location instead of arranging a dead drop. And the minutemen had helpfully pointed him towards Alex because apparently he, Nate, and Preston were the only people who ever did anything around here and the latter two were apparently in the middle of building a really nice settlement right now.  
  
"Oookay change of plans." Alex clapped his hands together as he started forming a plan."Francis. You head down to goodneighbor, go to the hotel and ask for Charon. Let him know where I'm going so he knows where to look if things go south. Belia, how do you feel about helping out with some pest removal?"

"Depends, do we still get maltovs?" Belia asked, already knowing the answer. The duo set off on the most direct route available.

 

  
The walk was surprisingly quiet. Alex was uncharacteristically focused, then again Belia supposed she'd never actually seen him in a serious situation. People trusted him enough to save the Capital and somehow they kept trusting him, despite his destructive nature.

Keeping to the shadows and scanning for enemies meant that the journy was fairly uneventful. This was a bad thing in Belias eyes, she'd come here to have fun, complete silence wasn't fun. This was why she'd left Sebastian in the first place! Silence meant that she was left alone with her thoughts and thinking wasn't something she liked to do often. Thinking led to remembering things, like how it had never been this quiet before the war and how the skys were too dark. They were walking alongside an abadoned freeway. In her time this would have been busy, even at this time of night cars would be bustling around, illuminated by the warm orange glow of streetlights. She'd learned to drive on roads like this, now all that remained was crumbling tarmac and the occasional weathered husk of an abandoned car. The lights had clearly been picked apart by scavengers. Even the stars in the sky were wrong. There were too many of them and they were all in the wrong place. It was times like this that she missed the old world, she'd speny hours watching the skys with her brother when she was younger, now they were just different enough to remind her that she had nothing left of her old life.

Continuing on in sullen silence, her mind wouldn't stop its downward spiral, reconstructing the the ruins into the beautiful buildings of her past. Almost spitefully reminding her about what she'd lost.  
  
Eventually even Alex managed to pick up on the change in mood.

"Ok, thanks for being quiet but this whole 'pity party mood' is kind of going against the 'cool, secret angent' thing I was going for. What gives?" Alex asked tactfully as ever.  
  
Torn between punching him, and staying quiet, she opted for the much easier silent treatment. It was easier in theory, Alex decided that forcing the feelings out of her via a chokehold was the best idea.  
  
"AHH. WHAT THE HELL DUDE" Belia shouted as she futilely tried to wiggle herself free.  
  
"Look I'm not a doctor but I know it's unhealthy to bottle up your feelings, spill." Alex relaxed the chokehold into a headlock. Belia took a second to process that.  
  
"Wait, Alex. You are a doctor." Belia was pretty sure her was. By wasteland standards anyway.

"Yeah but not, like, a mind one." Alex somehow shrugged while not letting up.

"I.. you... You mean a psychiatrist?? Wow, you are literally the worst doctor." The sheer confusion about what was happening had almost completely snapped her out of her sulk.

"Hey, were not talking about me and my possibly fake credentials." He replied jokingly "Come on, whats got you down? We've got a bit of time before we get there and it's almost dawn. We can probably afford a some noise"  
  
Belia sighed, Alex was stubborn. He wasn't going to let this go. Might as well get it over with.  
  
"I'm just tired." Belia said wearily

"Mmhmm, of what exactly?"

"I just... It's... Don't you ever get tired of this?" It seems like all I ever do is go out kils some raiders, or ferals or whatever the hell todays enemy is. Search some building that that looks exactly like all the other ones I've been in because theyre all fucking destroyed the go and talk to about 20 different people to find the one person who knows whats going on. Then they just tell me to do it all over again. My life wasn't supposed to be like this!" She was starting to get upset again. "I wanted to do something with my life, not just become some glorified exterminator"

"On the bright side you did get some kick ass powers." Alex added brightly to her rant. Belia just glared.

"I'm just so tired. I wanted a break but here I am, doing more of the same old shit." She kicked a large stone in front of her to punctuate the message before carrying on. "No-one gets it here. Before the war everything was different. You could do whatever you wanted and there was so much more to do. I wanted to travel but I don't even know if those countries exist anymore, I wanted to see my family again but they're all gone, I wanted to grow up but I can't even do that anymore." She started crying. "What's the point in all of this? No-one's really living anymore. No-one's comfortable or happy. And the worse part is, no-one even knows what they've lost. The world ended and we're all just holding on to nothing. What's the point?" She turned to look at Alex with glassy, red-rimmed eyes. Alex had just kept nodding and making small noises to show he was listening to her venting. He stopped for a moment to consider his thoughts, a very rare occurrence.

"You know, when my dad disappeared it felt like my world ended. I had to leave my nice safe vault and everything I'd ever known. You know what it's like, going from your nice, happy life to the wasteland. In my first week, I saw so many people die, so many people get hurt. I saw the destruction that a handful of self important war-mongrers had made and I saw desperate people make the same mistakes in the name of some caps or a quick fix." He lit a cigarette and took a drag before carrying on.

"But do you know what else I saw? I saw people willing to take in and help out some half-wit vault dweller that was out of his depth. For every raider there were 5 good people out there trying to stop them. Caravaners would share food with the hungry. Even junkies make their own little tribes. We all keep doing this because we know that eventually, things will get better."

"But isn't it exhausting? Don't you ever just want it to stop? The war destroyed everything, why don't we just let it end?" She asked ernestly, honestly wondering what he could see in this place. Alex started laughing.

"Dude, the great war didn't end the world. Just because somethings changed doesn't mean it's over. Betchya a lot of things stayed the same."

"Not the sky. Not the people." Belia said grumpily, she was perking up, though she didn't want to admit it

"Hey, do me a favour. Look at that." He pointed at the sunrise they were walking towards. "Has that changed?"

She took a moment to look at sky, the rising sun was bursting out from behind pink and orange streaked clouds, the indigo sky was shifting to a bright blue. Already the rays were starting to warm the ground beneath them.

"No." She whispered, the barely audible over the light wind.

"See, It's a beautiful day. The suns still rising, and guess what? You're still here to see it."

"Yeah." She realised what he was getting at.

"Huh, maybe I should've been a psychiatrist. I'll send you my bill. Next time we can dig into some coping mechanisms or something but right now we're about 10 minutes away from the warehouse. What do you say we go ruin someones day?" Alex asked, readying a fat man.

"Sounds good to me." Belia grabbed the rifle off her back and checked her pocket for her knife.

"Sweet" Alex ruffled her hair. "Lets have fun then."  
  


  
Charon wasn't impressed. He'd been interrupted from a thoroughly unintersting book by someone banging at the door, saying that Alex had gone off to save his family and that he was told to come here. Getting involved in hostage situations was not what he'd meant when he told Alex and Belia to go off on their own. This could actually get dangerous and his goddamned contract meant that he had to be there for that.

Gary had decided to tag along to save himself from awkward conversation with the strange, inconsolable man in their hotel room, and the strange inconsolable man had decided to come along because he didn't want to be alone right now.  
They'd been following the coordinates the raiders had helpfully left and were hoping to get there before too much trouble went down.  
  
"How do we know we'll make it in time?? What if they're dead?!" The man was still panicking, god knows how many hours after he'd showed up. Granted he had a good reason but charon was a little too tired to deal with that right now.

"If your family's dead, they don't get money." Charon said bluntly.

"But I don't have any money." Panicky guy (Francis apparently) was only getting worse.

" _But they don't know that_." Charon snapped. "We are literally walking up to the warehouse right now.  ** _Please_**. Can you just hold it together for five minutes." Charon was clearly the most sympathetic of the group.

"Gary." Gary patted Francis's shoulder reassuringly. Frances just stared in confusion as he processed what Gary said.

"Did he just say his own name??" Why calm someone down when you can just baffle them into a better mood.

" _Don't ask_. We're here now." Charon slowed down as they reached the building.

"Shouldn't we be quiet or something? I thought we'd need to hide" Frances whispered in the loudest whisper Charon had ever heard.

"From what?" Charon motioned to the surrounding area that was littered with what could only be described as 'raider bits'. Francis went white, how had he missed this?? Gary just shrugged and pulled out a laser rifle, before heading in first.

"After you" Charon motioned for Francis to go ahead. "I'll cover you." He said simply. Hoping to get this over with quickly.

 

  
They'd been inside for about 15 minutes and it felt like they were only going in circles. The eerie silence only added to the tension. Francis broke the silence to voice his fears.

"Everyone here's dead. What if my family's joined them?"

Charon decided to actually try and be reassuring for a change 

"All of the raiders are dead so Alex has been though here. And since theres no signs of a real struggle and everythings pretty quiet he's probably found your family. If they were dead he'd of just blown the place up instead of taking his time."

"How are we going to find them in here?? This place is a maze?" Francis sound just as frantic as before.

"Let me let you in on something. Alex is the easiest guy in the wasteland to track. My method? I just follow the trail of destruction, then look for the person on fire. Here's the trail of destruction." Charon finished as they rounded a corner, ending up in large room that smelled of smoke and gasoline. More raiders were scattered around, on the opposite side of the room was a person dressed in a hazmat suit, coincidentally on fire.

" ** _Tadaa_**." Charon said, with sarcastic jazz hands. "Works every time" he faultered as he realised that this figure was much shorter than Alex should be.  
"Wait, you're not my idiot."

  
" **CHARON**." Belia shouted enthusiacally, somehow forgetting her current predicament and running straight towards him.

"Alex?" Gary asked, using Francis as a human shield.

"Oh, he's over there." Belia motioned in his direction, still burning.

Alex was sat in the corner wearing an oddly pristine labcoat while attending to a very bruised looking woman. Next to him was a little girl holding a fire extinguisher. The little girl brightend up the second she realised who was here.

" **DADDY!!** " She squealed loudly enough to burst an eardrum and bolted toward Francis, dragging the extinguisher with her.

"Francis!" The woman sounded relieved, she made to get up and run to him before Alex gently pushed her down.

"Just a moment miss, I'm still setting up the stimpack" the woman complied but didn't take her eyes off her husband.

"Um, is everyone ok here?" Francis was looking over his daughter, occasionally casting a worried glance over to Belia, who was now starting to smoulder out.

"Oh yeah, couple of bumps and bruises, some long-term psychological damage, Mrs. Alyna has a broken hand from punching one of them but otherwise good"

"... And  _you_?" Francis asked Belia, who had almost completely gone out.

"I'm golden, I'm just testing out this rad suit." Belia smiled, before remembering her face was covered and gave two thumbs up instead. Charon decided against pointing out that that wasn't how radiation suits worked, he'd have better luck asking a wall to move than arguing with her.

"Awww, I didn't even get to use this. I was supposed to put you out." The girl sounded like she was going to cry.

"Don't worry, we can set her on fire again later." Alex didn't even look up from his work as he said this.

" _Sweetie_ , we've had a  _very_  long day. I think that we need to go home and rest." Alyna said in a tone that implied she wanted to get away with these crazy people.

"Well, you're free to go. Rest that hand for a couple of days and it should be good as new." Alex started packing up his rucksack. "The road back'll be clear for the next few days. You know where to find us if you need anything."

"Yes, yes. Thank you" Alyna said quickly, practically dragging her husband and daughter out.

"Oookay bye." Belia gave a belated wave to where they'd been stood.

"Well now that's over with, what's next on the agenda?" Alex resumed his usual position of leaning on Gary.  
  
"Honestly, I should probably get back to Seb. Wouldn't want him to get bored, ya know?" Belia didn't really want to go but she knew she should. It would take at least a week to get back and she didn't want to be gone for too long. "He should've cheered up by now"

"Have you cheered up?" Alex didn't want her leaving on a bad note.

"You know what? Yeah, I think so." She honestly felt better. She'd worked out some fustration, caught up with a friend, and while she didn't find a new jacket, she had picked up some nice boots and an oddly fireproof radiation suit.

Walking towards the exit, she stopped to give Alex (and by extension Gary) a hug goodbye, covering them in a nice layer of soot. Charon gave a wave instead, preferring to keep his clothes clean.

As she stepped out of the building she took in the scenery. The sun was high in the sky with it warm light coming through the sparse, streaky clouds. A gentle breeze was pushing them along and softly swaying the leaves on the trees. It was a beautiful day after all.


	3. Out With a Bang

Belia had celebrated so many New Years in her life, she started to lose count. Eventually it just became a socially accepted event to get completely hammered.   
This year it was different though. Her and Sebastian had taken to travelling with Alex, Charon, and Gary and now they were spending the holidays together.    
Christmas had been wonderful and Belia felt happy at the thought of adding the three ragtag explorers to her little family.    
  


Currently however, she was sitting alone on a small riverbank. She loved the holidays, but they made her a bit melancholy as well. She missed her long-dead brother and husband. Sometimes she wondered if should have made Felix forget her. She missed him terribly. And Dean. Dean, who had known what she was and passed no judgement.   
She had denied him when he asked to become a demon like her, to never die.    
He deserved paradise, not the brimstone that awaited all demons one day.   
Belia took a stone and let it skip over the water.    
She needed to get out of this funk.   
  
She didn’t look up at the footsteps behind her. The heaviness of step and the gait told her it was Alex.   
  
“What are you doing out here all alone, gorgeous?”   
  
She smiled. Alex always cheered her up. He was just a jolly giant, even though he looked quite imposing.    
  
“Just thinking. I have a long, long life to look back upon, you know.”   
  
“Ah, thinking is for nerds, you know that,” Alex teased.    
“Charon and Sebastian are already getting started on the New Year’s hangover and Gary is tinkering about. So that just leaves us to find something to do.”   
  
“I need to find some new components to make drugs. Wanna go scavenger hunting with me?”    
  
“Oh definitely!” Belia’s drug emporium was fascinating to him. Alex didn’t understand the chemistry that went in to it, but it was always interesting to watch her mix new drugs. He knew there was a part she kept from him, a way that she enhanced the merchandise, but he was confident she would show him in time 

It was also cool that wherever they went, there would be someone who knew Belia and owed her a favour. She had promised they’d go to Nuka World next.    
There was power to the park again and she wanted to show him the rides. 

 

Belia led Alex to a small natural bridge and they hopped over to the other side. Bloodleaves grew crimson and lush on this side of the river and Belia began plucking the leaves off and stuffing them in her bag.    
Once she plucked enough, they headed into a small, decrepit forest.    
  
“Keep your eyes open for brain fungus, I’m all out of that.”

 

“Joooy…” Alex didn’t mind scooping up the squishy green fungus but it wasn’t exactly his favourite activity.   
“So, tell me. What was New Year’s Eve like before the war?”   
  
“Depends on which circles you ran in, really,” Belia answered absentmindedly while scraping glowing resin off a tree.   
“When I was young, back in Utah, we’d have sparklers, Dad would get fuck off drunk and my mother would just scowl all night. Then in New York, we got wasted at a park with my friends. After I met Sebastian, I’d often accompany him to some charity galas. I’d wear a kickass dress and sip champagne with the high society of New York City. A lot of the society wives thought I was an expensive hooker!”

 

“I’d save up for you.” Alex smirked slyly at Belia, who fought down a blush. She knew it was meant as a compliment.   
“They were probably just jealous.”   
  
“Probably. And they knew Sebastian is an unsocial bastard.”   
  
The two of them shared at laugh at Bassy’s expense. Alex peered around a tree and found the sickly mass of green fungus Belia was looking for. He dug around the ick.    
Belia came closer and knelt down beside him, preparing her bag for the coveted ingredient.

Once in a blue moon, she liked reminiscing about the past and Alex seemed to always know exactly when she was in the mood for it.

 

“You know,” Alex mumbled, “I’d love to see you in one of those pre-war dresses. All fancy.”   
  
While they worked the brain fungus in silence, an idea formed in Belia’s mind.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Gary had warmed up to Belia the slightest bit. Which meant he willingly went to fetch Alex for her when evening came around.    
They were currently staying at an abandoned army checkpoint, which had everything she needed.   
The same heavy footfalls as earlier that day made her turn around.    
  
“Hello gorgeous. What are you doing out here by yourself?”   
  
“Probably hit my head and having a vivid dream. You look amazing.”    
  
Belia was standing at a table at the guard house, two glasses with a yellowish liquid in hand. She was wearing a long dark grey gown. It was shimmery, not like anything he’d seen before, and it fit her just right. Alex truly felt this couldn’t be real, but she was here and she had that pretty smile. That dangerous smile of hers.    
He came closer and Belia handed him the dainty glass.    
  
“What is this stuff,” he asked, desperate to say something.   
  
“It’s champagne. Sebastian will kill me if he found out I hid this from him, but I was saving it. Go on, try it!”   
  
Alex sniffed his drink, getting a weird fizzy sensation up his nose and immediately sneezed. Belia laughed at him, but when he tried, she suddenly looked very interested.    
  
“It’s very bubbly. And kind of.. a bit bitter but not in a bad way. I like it!”   


Belia was pleased that her surprise was so well received. She really liked Alex and loved to show him new things. He was kind and cheerful and unpredictable and all the things Belia needed in her life. It didn’t hurt that he was incredibly handsome either.    
Belia felt herself reminded of when she first met Dean, and it had been so long since she lost her husband, she could let herself enjoy the situation instead of feeling guilty.

She took another sip of champagne and smiled impishly.    
  
“You really do look beautiful tonight. What did I do to deserve this and how can I do more of that?”   
  
“By just being you, by being here when I’m sad and pulling me out of it. By being my friend. More than a friend, actually…”   
  
Alex had trailed off, thinking about the one single time he had seen Belia in tears, when she missed her husband, her brother, her life before the war and had done his darndest to get her to stop crying.    
And then his thoughts snapped back.  _ More than a friend? Was this really not a dream? _

 

“What are.. do you mean,  _ more  _ more?”   
  
“Yes, you great big oaf, I mean  _ more  _ more.”   
  
Her laugh, that could sound so harsh and cruel to others was the sweetest thing he’d ever heard. He was such a smooth talker, a flirter, but in the end, a big doof when it came to the real thing.

 

Belia let him get through his muddled thoughts, checked her watch and prepared her last surprised.    
  
“Hey, snap out of it! I’ve taken my considerable technical knowledge of making things go boom and prepared a real, old-world fireworks show. I would like you to see what I saw before the bombs. I want you to see what made me happy because I know it will make you happy too.”   
  
Before he even had the chance to reply, Belia flipped the switch she had lying on the table.    
  
There was a whizzing sound and then high above them the sky exploded into colour and glitter. Alex was shook. One whizzing sound after another, some more shrill than others, but all of them painting flowers and stars into the sky. It smelled like sulfur, and there was smoke in the air. He looked down and could still see the light show in Belia’s wide, shining, purple eyes. He knew they sometimes turned when she got excited and he found that adorable.   
She turned to face him, with the most beautiful smile gracing her lips and Alex took the plunge.    
He pulled this wonderful creature close and kissed her. Belia laughed and snaked her arms around him and kissed back with vigour. He was young, she wasn’t, but none of that mattered. This was here and now and it was perfect.

  
  


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Up on the roof Charon and Sebastian were sharing some whisky.    
  
“This had to happen at some point.”   
  
“Oh yes. We were doomed from the start.”


End file.
